CT6a SECTION 2 CREDIBILITY The Credibility criteria

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CT6a - SECTION 2 CREDIBILITYThe Credibility
criteria

• Credibility Whether someones claims or
  evidence can be believed
• Plausibility Whether or not a claim or piece of
  evidence is reasonable
• To remember the difference between Credibility
  and Reasonability use a mnemonic, such as
• Charlie Brown credibly believed the raised
  reasonably plausible pumpkins

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CT6b - SECTION 2 CREDIBILITYThe Credibility
criteria

• Evidence has two slightly different meanings,
  both of which are important in assessing
  credibility
• 1/ The available facts and circumstances that
  support a reason or conclusion, which are often
  in the form of numerical or statistical data.
• 2/ Claims quoted from a source, e,g, a person,
  organisation, document journal or website.
• When we decide to accept a claim it is probably
  because it does not conflict with what we have
  previously observed, or with what we think we
  know as fact.

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CT6c - SECTION 2 CREDIBILITYThe Credibility
criteria

• Assessing the plausibility and extent of claims
• Calling something a claim does not mean it cannot
  be accepted as evidence.
• Evidence may be presented as personal
  observations or as statements from sources or
  witnesses.
• The plausibility of the claim itself is one of
  the first things to consider in assessing
  credibility. You need to ask the following
  questions
• 1/ Is it reasonable? What are the reasons why it
  isnt plausible?
• 2/ Does it need interpreting?
• 3/ Does it need supporting with evidence?

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CT6d - SECTION 2 CREDIBILITYThe Credibility
criteria

• In the exam you may be asked to assess evidence
  in the form of statements or personal
  observations by people who have specialist
  knowledge of a topic.
• Assessing the credibility of individuals
  organisations
• Source A person, organisation or document
  providing information or evidence.
• Witness Statement A report by someone who has
  actually seen or heard an event.
• Criteria Standards, measures or benchmarks,
  against which something can be measured.

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CT6e - SECTION 2 CREDIBILITYThe Credibility
criteria

• USE B.R.A.V.E.N. HERE
• B Bias
• R Reputation
• A Ability to see or hear (perceive)
• V Vested Interest
• E Expertise or experience of source
• N Neutrality
• We can add Context, Corroboration Consistency

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CT6f - SECTION 2 CREDIBILITYThe Credibility
criteria

• Bias Tendency to be prejudiced against, or in
  favour of, certain beliefs, or people who engage
  in particular activities. This gives a motive or
  subconscious reason to lie, misrepresent or
  distort information or evidence
• For example - By being selective in what is
  reported in order to blame someone else or
  support strongly held beliefs.
• Some people believe that everyone has some form
  of unconscious bias.

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CT6g - SECTION 2 CREDIBILITYThe Credibility
criteria

• Reputation what is generally said or believed
  about the character of a person or an
  organisation
• We often make decisions on whether to believe
  what someone tells us because we know whether or
  not we have found that person or organisation to
  be truthful in the past.
• When assessing someone or an organisations
  credibility based on reputation, you are working
  on the basis that their past performance is a
  guide to how they will perform in a particular
  situation. However past performance is not
  necessarily a reliable guide.
• For example we expect referees and police to be
  honest

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CT6h - SECTION 2 CREDIBILITYThe Credibility
criteria

• Ability to see or hear The sources ability to
  use any of the five senses to asses an event or
  situation.
• Eye-witness Someone who provides evidence based
  on first-hand experience.
• Hearsay Evidence based on second-hand
  information from another source, who may have
  interpreted it.

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CT6i - SECTION 2 CREDIBILITYThe Credibility
criteria

• Factors that affect the ability to perceive an
  event
• 1/ Did the witness perceive the whole event?
• 2/ Does the witness have a medical condition that
  might affect their ability to observe and recall
  the event?
• 3/ Was the witness under emotional or other
  stress?
• 4/ Was the witness under the influence of alcohol
  or drugs?
• 5/ Was the witness distracted at the time of the
  event?
• 6/ Was their something partially blocking their
  view?

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CT6j - SECTION 2 CREDIBILITYThe Credibility
criteria

• Vested Interest - Personal interest, usually
  financial, in a state of affairs or in an
  organisation leading to the expectation of
  personal gain from a favourable outcome.
• V.I. Provides a motive to say one thing rather
  than another, to lie or distort what is said
  because the witness has a personal interest in
  the situation.
• The difference between Vested Interest and Bias
  is that someone with a vested interest will gain
  personally from the outcome of the situation.
  Bias leads to a desire to believe one
  interpretation of events vested interest
  provides an incentive to present one
  interpretation.
• People with a reputation to uphold may have a
  vested interest in giving an accurate account of
  events to tell the truth.

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CT6k - SECTION 2 CREDIBILITYThe Credibility
criteria

• Expertise or experience of source Skills,
  experience and training that give someone
  specialist knowledge or judgement.
• Having specialist expertise, training or
  experience may suggest that someone is a reliable
  source or witness as regards interpreting a
  situation. Law courts often rely on specialist
  witnesses such as forensic experts, pathologists,
  psychiatrists and medical experts.
• However people may and do question some
  specialist evidence if they believe someone has a
  vested interest which gives a motive to present a
  view which puts the situation in a particular
  light.

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CT6l - SECTION 2 CREDIBILITYThe Credibility
criteria

• Neutrality Being impartial having no reason to
  favour either side in a dispute or difference of
  opinion.
• Someone who is neutral in a dispute has no
  connection to any of the parties involved in the
  dispute. A witness who is neutral has no motive
  or reason to lie or distort their account of
  events or is someone who gives a balanced account
  of the various options.
• People in many professions such as journalists
  and social workers are expected to be neutral
  when doing their job.
• Neutrality is the counterpart of bias.
• Motive is a factor that may cause a person to act
  in a particular way.

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CT6m - SECTION 2 CREDIBILITYThe Credibility
criteria

• Context This should be taken into account as
  different situations can alter the credibility
  criteria.
• Corroboration Confirmation of, or support for,
  evidence given by one source by another source.
• Corroboration normally confirms the reliability
  of evidence, unless there is a reason to think
  that any of the sources may have reason to be
  untruthful or misleading.
• Consistency or Inconsistency When evidence or
  an argument contains two claims that cannot both
  be correct at the same time the evidence is
  inconsistent.

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CT7a - Assessing CREDIBILITY of individuals,
organisations and documents

• Assessing credibility does not tell you if the
  evidence given is true. It does not tell you
  whether or not you should believe it. It just
  helps you to decide if a source is likely to be
  reliable, and to compare the credibility of
  different sources.
• Historians often consider documentary evidence to
  be more reliable than oral history because
  memories of events may become confused over time.
  However, the fact that something has been
  recorded in documentary form does not necessarily
  make it intrinsically more reliable than other
  evidence.

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CT7b - Assessing CREDIBILITY of individuals,
organisations and documents

• In the exam you may be asked to assess how far an
  article or report is credible. To do this you
  need to think about
• 1/ The credibility of the writer
• 2/ The plausibility of the writers claims
• 3/ How far the article or report reads like a
  balanced account, which draws on relevant
  sources, rather than a one-sided report.
• 4/ The credibility of the source organisation,
  whether that is a newspaper, journal or other
  organisation.

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CT7c - Assessing CREDIBILITY of individuals,
organisations and documents

• In the exam you must read the question carefully
  to be clear whether you are addressing the
  credibility of the document or the writer.
• Remember you can apply the BRAVEN criteria to
  both document and author.
• Marks are awarded for relating the credibility
  criteria to the article or report.
• In the exam you may be asked to assess the
  plausibility or reasonableness of a particular
  claim in an article. You need to consider these
  questions
• 1/ Does the claim need clarifying?
• 2/ Does it need supporting with evidence?
• What are the reasons why it is not plausible?

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CT7d - Assessing CREDIBILITY of individuals,
organisations and documents

• In assessing how far an article provides a
  balanced account you need to ask the following
  questions
• 1/ Is the language, or the use of images, emotive
  or reasoned?
• 2/ Does the evidence selected demonstrate bias or
  neutrality?
• Does the writer consider alternative viewpoints
  and alternative evidence from different sources,
  experts or witnesses?
• Marks are awarded for relating the credibility
  criteria to the article or report.

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CT7e - Assessing CREDIBILITY of individuals,
organisations and documents

• If you are asked to assess how far a document is
  a credible report consider
• 1/ The document as a whole (not the separate
  sources quoted within it.
• 2/ The credibility of the author and the
  organisation which has published the document.
• Assessing the credibility of an organisation is
  practically the same as for a document or
  individual though Bias, Reputation and Expertise
  may play a slightly more prominent role.

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CT7f - Assessing CREDIBILITY of individuals,
organisations and documents

• Images and graphs or charts are simply evidence
  in a visual form. You should assess the use of an
  image in the same way as you would assess any
  other evidence by asking these questions
• 1/ Is this evidence significant?
• 2/ Is it relevant?
• 3/ (in the case of a graph) Is it typical and
  representative?

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CT7g - Assessing CREDIBILITY of individuals,
organisations and documents

• The source material will present a number of
  different opinions on an issue, but not
  necessarily a dispute. You will need to use the
  evidence and information to reach your own
  judgement.
• In the exam you may be asked to make reasoned
  judgements about two things
• 1/ Which source in a given situation is the most
  credible.
• 2/ The probable course of events in a given
  scenario.

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CT7h - Assessing CREDIBILITY of individuals,
organisations and documents

• Assessing which person, or organisation, is the
  most or least credible, you need to ask
• 1/ How far do the credibility criteria strengthen
  or weaken each sources credibility?
• 2/ What information is relevant to the decision
  and what can be put to one side?
• 3/ Which facts are established?
• 4/ Which facts are in dispute?

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CT7i - Assessing CREDIBILITY of individuals,
organisations and documents

• Making a reasoned judgement about the probable
  course of events in a scenario.
• Use the following questions to help you decide
  what probably happened
• 1/ What are the alternative explanations
• 2/ What conclusion does the evidence lead towards?